Jeff Smith PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS CROSS
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NOVEMBER 2019 Issue 9|WOODHOUSE REIGNS VICTORIOUS IN WOLVERHAMPTON Issue 9 Interview Jeff smith Jeff Smith drops by for a chat, among the topics are his route into darts, his World Championship final defeat and his recent WDF World Cup success. Page14-15 Preview PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS We preview the Players Championship Finals which takes place in Minehead during November. Page 22-28 win European winmau sTEVE BEATON darts Courtesy of the guys at Winmau, a set of Steve Beaton darts will be up for grabs CHAMPIONSHIP as part of Issue Nine’s competition. Details inside...... CROSS ENDS EUROPEAN Page 40 DUCK Rob Cross lifted his third major title in Gottingen as he defeated Gerwyn Price in the final. Page 8 The Amateur Game BDO Insight The very latest from the grassroots including coverage from Extensive reports as the BDO visit the Circus Tavern for Iceland, the Netherlands and around the country. the World Masters, as well as opens held in Northern Page 30-31 Ireland, New Zealand and Canada. Page 10-11 CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE VAN GERWEN PUNISHES WRIGHT AS HE LIFTS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IN LEICESTER He clinched top spot by defeating an out of sorts Rob Cross 10-8. Cross failed to register a win in the competition. Wright was joined in the last four by Welshman Price, who, after a first-round win against Cross, 10-5, came through a shootout with Gurney, with a 10-6 victory to qualify. Smith would start far too slow to trouble Wright in the semi-finals, with the World Cup winner taking a 7-0 lead, before settling for an 11-5 win with a 103.52 average. Van Gerwen was forced to go the distance with Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC Price in their last four contest, with Price’s scoring deserting him when he had the throw in the deciding leg. The reigning World Champion took out Michael van Gerwen completed a grand slam of PDC 46 to reach the final. tournaments at The Morningside Arena in Leicester, as he clinched the Paddy Power Champions League Wright will rue his missed chances in the final, as he of Darts at the fourth time of asking with a nail- was by far the better player for the majority of the biting 11-10 win against the luckless Peter Wright match. in the final. It was a blistering start from both, with van The Dutchman’s previous best effort was an 11-5 Gerwen taking the opener in eleven darts with an final defeat to Phil Taylor in the inaugural staging of 88 checkout, and Wright responding with a 156 the tournament in 2016, and he rode his luck after checkout to level. “MVG” then crashed in a 154 the group phase to pick up the £100,000 winners’ finish to lead again at 2-1. van Gerwen then missed cheque, along with a bizarre belt from the sponsors three darts to break Wright and then had to watch as a trophy. as the Scot put in an eleven darter of his own to lead 4-3 at the first break. “MVG” recovered from 4-2 down in his opening group game to defeat James Wade 10-8 and then A 10-7 lead then seemed an unassailable one for returned later the same evening to take a 5-0 lead Wright, but he then missed three darts at double 12 against Michael Smith, eventually repelling a late for the match, choosing to turn around to the crowd fightback from “Bully Boy” to take a 10-6 win and after missing the second dart. Those misses were secure his last four place. He rounded off his group fatal, as he not only watched MVG save the match campaign with a 10-4 win against Gary Anderson, with his last dart in hand on double seven, but he who was already eliminated before their meeting, to then saw van Gerwen reel off four legs without reply finish top of the pile. to secure the title. Smith booked the runners up spot in the group, Words: PAUL MASON after beating Anderson 10-8 in the first round of matches, and then coming out on top in a tense 10-9 win against James Wade, where the winner qualified. Group B winner was Peter Wright, who was also Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC flawless in taking three wins from as many matches. “Snakebite” began with a 3-0 deficit to Daryl Gurney before he turned the game around to win 10-7. In a high-quality contest, Wright made it successive wins with a 10-8 victory against Gerwyn Price, a majestic 161 and 125 checkouts the highlight for the Scot. 06 www.dartsplanet.tv Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC WORLD GRAND PRIX DUBLIN FIVE-STAR VAN GERWEN LIFTS WORLD GRAND PRIX IN DUBLIN Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC Michael van Gerwen dominated in Dublin for the his victory. fifth time as he beat a defiant Dave Chisnall 5-2 in “It’s been a phenomenal week for me, and I played the World Grand Prix final at the CityWest Hotel. really well, and it was a really good performance in The world number one followed up his win over Peter the final because Dave put me under pressure. This Wright in last year’s final with a stunning showing was some of the best darts I’ve seen from Dave, and once again, as he ended Chisnall’s impressive run he never gave in. at the concluding hurdle. “He had a great tournament, and he played really Van Gerwen raced out of the gates, whitewashing well and pushed me, but every time in the important Chisnall in the opening set and from there, the St moments I did the right thing – and I think going 3-1 Helens man would have feared the worst. up was a big moment. Although, with scores tied at two-a-piece in the “I feel good, and I want to keep this form going now second set, Chisnall pinned a maximum and a into the big tournaments we have coming up.” blistering 101 checkout under intense pressure to Van Gerwen survived a scare earlier on in the level up proceedings. tournament as Jamie Hughes took the Dutchman Danish Darts Open champion, Chisnall, led not once to the distance, but wins over Jeffrey de Zwaan, but twice in set three, only to falter in the fifth leg, Mervyn King, Chris Dobey and Chisnall in the final with van Gerwen finding a 111 outshot to regain his sealed his fifth World Grand Prix crown and 50th slender advantage. televised title. Another ton-plus checkout handed the Dutchman As for Chisnall, despite enduring a disappointing a 2-0 lead in the fourth set, and despite a valiant defeat in the final, he enjoyed a vigorous run, getting comeback from Chisnall, he moved 3-1 ahead. A 3-1 the better of Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting, Nathan scoreline became 4-1, and van Gerwen moved on Aspinall and Glen Durrant on his way to Saturday’s the cusp of victory once again. conclusion. Chisnall had different ideas; however, he pinned a 13-dart leg to move back within two sets, only for van Gerwen to find two maximums in what would be the final set of the match, and close out a 5-2 triumph. “It means a lot to me, and I’m really pleased with this victory,” Van Gerwen admitted to pdc.tv following Words: BEN HUDD @dartsplanettv 07 bdo World Masters allowed O’Shea to step up, land double 10 at the first SENSATIONAL O’SHEA AND time of asking and secure his place in history. For that win, O’Shea secures a place at the 2020 BDO AWESOME ASHTON TRIUMPH World Championships and therefore forces previous provisional qualifier Aaron Turner into Monday’s AT THE WORLD MASTERS playoff. DO world number 219, John O’Shea, staged In the ladies competition, Lisa Ashton beat Anastasia a remarkable run through the field to win the Dobromyslova 5-4 to defend the World Masters title 2019 One80 L-Style World Masters at the she won in 2018. Circus Tavern as Lisa Ashton won the ladies ‘The Lancashire Rose’ had beaten Zandra Charbonneau, title for the third time. Debra Ivey, Anne Willkomm and Margaret Sutton to ‘The Joker’, a quarter-finalist in this make the quarter-finals, where she saw off Japan Open B competition back in 2016, completed his winner Mayumi Ouchi 4-1 with an 85.7 average. fairytale week in Purfleet by beating Scott Waites 6-4 in She then beat Ouchi’s compatriot Kasumi Sato, who sets to become the first Irishman to win the prestigious had already beaten Priscilla Steenbergen, Fallon World Masters crown. Sherrock and Deta Hedman on route to the semis, 5-1 This year’s rule changes, which saw the old format to set up the meeting with old rival Dobromyslova. reintroduced with seeded players starting from the The Russian had beaten the likes of Donna Gleed, floor, produced several shocks, with only nine of the Corrine Hammond and close friend Lorraine Winstanley 16 seeds making it to the televised stages. to make the final and she started the showpiece game The entire week looked set to be dominated by off- brightly, breaking in the third leg of the match. the-oche shenanigans, with re-draws being done in That enabled her to move 4-2 up, only for Ashton to all four singles competitions and BDO chairman Des reel off three legs on the spin to triumph 5-4, finishing Jacklin seemingly announcing that he would resign in with an 85.5 average as she won the Masters for the January, but O’Shea’s heroics ensured that the return third time and secured a second BDO major final win of top-level darts to the iconic Circus Tavern would be over Dobromyslova in the last two months.